Rough topography, poor drainage, low and erratic precipitation and cold temperatures make it impossible for indigenous communities in the region to survive entirely by agriculture. Pastoralism remains the only livelihood option in much of this territory, contributing close to 100 percent of annual household income. In other areas, people live by agro-pastoralism, with herding contributing 50 to 70 percent of income, while in mixed crop livestock farming systems it contributes 10 to 30 percent. All across the rangelands, the health of the ecosystem is crucial to economic survival.

Although rangelands are the largest ecosystem in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, they are an under-acknowledged resource. Global warming and socio-economic transformation threatens the rangelands and the communities that reside there, breaking down pastoralism and disturbing ecological systems in ways that ultimately upset the highly productive agricultural systems in the distant and populous plains.